A Little Help Bringing Up Baby

Through A Volunteer Pantry In Glen Ellyn, Young Families Are Rewarded For Their Positive Parenting.

May 03, 2000|By Candace Purdom. Special to the Tribune.

Bolingbrook's Roslynn Ewing, 18, is a shopper. But unlike most shop-till-you-drop teens, Ewing zips right past the mall and instead takes her business to a Glen Ellyn corporate park.

There, in Building 8, Suite 216, she spends hard-earned bucks every week at the Junior League Parents' Pantry.

Ewing counts on the volunteer-run pantry as a source for baby essentials such as diapers, wipes, baby food and formula.

Already this year the pantry, sponsored and staffed by the Junior Leagues of Chicago and Greater DuKane, has served more than 300 young families.

"It's real helpful," says Ewing, who gave birth to her son, Jeremiah, last August.

Ewing is invited to shop at the pantry because she participates in programs through Greater DuPage MELD for Young Moms, an award-winning parenting organization headquartered in Glen Ellyn.

The group recently won the Business Ledger's 2000 Business Achievement Award for Notable Not-for-Profit Organizations.

But in addition to offering baby items to young parents, this unusual pantry and its "baby bucks" currency serve as incentives for good parenting.

"These are teenagers, and they need to be reinforced for their positive behaviors in a very concrete way," said M. Janet Bornancin, executive director of Greater DuPage MYM.

"Having access to the pantry allows them to continue demonstrating positive parenting behaviors by coming to group sessions, keeping their children's immunizations up to date, earning good grades and taking other steps toward self-sufficiency," she said. "We have found it to be a very good way to close that circle and to distribute donations we receive from this very generous community."

Each demonstration of positive parenting earns participants baby bucks, the special coupons doled out by MYM staff members at any of the group's programs.

Five courses meet for young moms age 13 to 23, and two programs are run for young dads 15 to 25. A home-visitation one-on-one program is another option. MYM also operates a young families series. Or parents may be rewarded with bucks after training as pregnancy-prevention speakers.

The coupons are redeemed at the Parents' Pantry.

"And the beauty is, they're earning (the opportunity to use the pantry). This is not just a free handout," said MYM's group services director, Elaine Van Berschot. "It brings attendance up at our (adolescent parenting) meetings and keeps them coming back."

Dominating the pantry is one very popular corner, well-stocked with 75 packages of disposable diapers.

"Oh, they'll be gone by next week," Van Berschot said, waving a hand toward the shelves. "Our biggest need is diapers, diapers, diapers. We can never get enough."

Colorful laundry baskets, plastic crates, wooden shelves and racks are filled with other baby needs and some personal toiletry items for the parents. In another corner, toys occupy the pantry's youngest visitors while their parents shop.

The products come from corporate donations and the result of community efforts, such as the baby drives sponsored by scout and church groups.

According to Bornancin, the combined Chicago and Greater DuKane Leagues launched the pantry three years ago with a $22,000 contribution. The leagues continue to provide the bulk of the pantry's annual budget, which is about $16,000 for rent, telephone service and other operating expenses.

Thanks to volunteer support, the pantry is open three times a week.

But to give parents such as Ewing and babies like Jeremiah a healthy start, it's gladly done, said Susan Borthwick, who oversees this year's 22 pantry volunteers.

"It's such a worthwhile service project and a popular one for us," Borthwick said.

"You get to see how responsible these parents are with their children and how concerned they are with the major job they have ahead."

To find out more about MYM or the Parents' Pantry, call 630-790-8433, ext. 224.